The Clown Car and American Politics

In Brief—A candid look at the Republican Party and the current sclerotic state of American politics.

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Bring in the Clowns—

The colorful little car rolls to a stop in the spotlight on stage. One, two three…ten Republican men emerge dressed in their Sunday best, pockets bulging with money showered on them by their rich benefactors who stand expectantly in the wings. The ten men take their assigned places. The clowns have arrived.

An additional seven clowns who didn’t fit in the car console one another and wait their turn in the spotlight. Although this laugh-a-thon has been going on for months, this performance in early August of 2015 is still fifteen months ahead of the general election in November of 2016. The European countries have an election season of about four months. In America it’s perpetual.

The audience of supporters and critics waits with ‘bated breath for the fun to begin. The clowns don’t disappoint. Egos soar and nonsense flows to feed the believers who want to hear the nonsense spouted by the clowns. In turn, the clowns know their faithful will lap it up in the eternal hope that the anointed nominee—a clown like all the others—will deliver once in the Oval Office.

By the time of the general election in the late fall of 2016, many of the voters will be bored silly with their nonsensical blather on stupid women, undeserving minorities, drug-toting immigrants, and the need for war. The last clown standing will be designated as the nominee to face the opposing party.

The wealthy king-makers of the Democratic Party have long decided on the party’s nominee and funnel buckets of money to the candidate through organizations turned loose by the Supreme Court’s conservative politicians in black robes. The more popular challenger limps hopefully along soliciting small amounts from donors who justifiably thirst to see the changes he promises. The crowds are big, but the challenger’s exchequer can’t compete with the tidal wave of money filling the coffers of the anointed nominee.

Between now and the winnowing, the clowns will pander to their frightened-of-change, ultra-Christian white constituency in the expectation that the fearful rubes will vote one of them into the Oval Office. What the clowns seem to forget is that the electorate is largely composed of the same people they want to support them: women, people of color, immigrants, students, the elderly and the young. Maybe the clowns hope to bore the electorate to death.

The Electorate: Ignorance v. Stupidity—

How about the electorate? Some are bright, realistic and informed, making an attempt to differentiate between the baloney and the facts. Still, the overwhelming majority will vote for their party regardless of what their representative has said or done and regardless of the party’s platform that is the blueprint of what the party stands for.

The typical voter will forget that s/he opposed the candidate during the primaries. Like a programed zombie, s/he will vote for the nominee for no other reason than the nominee represents the party. It’s automatic regardless of the fact that the opposing party nominee may be more qualified or that a Third Party candidate may be better. Too many voters are so stupid they couldn’t follow a three-legged skunk with a nosebleed down a narrow, snow-covered alley. That is the sad picture of the average voter in America.

America in a Changing World—

Since World War II until recently, America has found itself strutting (and warring) in the role of leader. Times have changed despite the hollow denials flowing from Washington. America is now just one of several powerful nations. The problem is that too many of America’s leaders, and certainly America’s pampered military, still believe the rest of the world should march to America’s cracked drum.

Clothed in hypocrisy and hubris, Uncle Sam finds itself having to negotiate instead of engaging in perpetual war. The military believes that by killing more humans with its drones and bombs, war is the answer. Contrary to this flawed belief, the endless killing generates greater resentment and hatred against America. Doing the same thing as before and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. America refuses to learn…about anything, and the taxpayers pay the bill. Maybe, just maybe, the oligarchs running America don’t want to learn because the perks and the money faucet will dry up.

Like other countries, blue-pill America lives in a fishbowl of propaganda unaware that they are immersed in polluted water. The clowns want it that way. The oligarchs want it that way. The military wants it that way. Does the benumbed electorate want it that way?

One of the clowns drools at the prospect of sitting in the Oval Office. To the electorate I say be careful what you vote for, you just might get it.

I read the article you referred to as well as many other similar articles. As I have said before, Trump is a creature of the mainstream media. Were it not for their need to sensationalize to get eyeballs, he wouldn’t get the spotlight he craves. His crude bluntness may garner support from non-thinking people, but that bluntness won’t produce the desired results in the real world. I’ll be very surprised if he’s around, much less viable, next year. But he’s news for now. The oligarchs don’t want anybody to rock their boat.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Though I’ve shaken my head at the nonsense spilling from the Republican corner of the country, my gorge rose at the dangerous maunderings of the candidates. This piece is the result. Rationality is absent on the Right.

Susan Harris on August 23, 2015 at 18:07

Leave it to you to come up with a three legged skunk with a nosebleed skunking it’s way down a narrow snow covered alley. Where did you hear or read that? Your mind is chalk full of hysterical images. Laughing so hard I may be the one to get a nosebleed.
Speaking for myself , and maybe I’m part of the American benumbed, I would never vote for a dislikable person , even if I think they are the ‘better’ choice.
I’m just praying for Jimmy Carter now as he begins his ordeal with radiation.
I quite like Bernie Sanders.
Hilary scares me.
If Trump takes it , and you never know,
We’ll be moving in with you or who knows
where. Thanks for writing your blog.

Love from the white haired older woman,
third row up with the sopranos.

The skunk line comes out of the distant past. It sprang to mind when I thought about the electorate.

As I have said many times since Donald Trump strutted onto the stage, I’ll be very surprised if he’s around next year. Though he’s bad, the other Republican clowns are equally crazy and dangerous. The election is nearly a year and a half away and much can happen between now and then. Let’s cross one bridge at a time.

Bernie Sanders is saying all the right things domestically, but he’s vague on foreign policy. Hillary Clinton is a politician in the pejorative sense. Meanwhile the oligarchs who run the country don’t want to jeopardize their perks. As Berra says, “it ain’t over ’til it’s over.” Hang in there, white-haired older woman.

I first became aware of presidential politics when JFK was running. It was the first time I felt inspired by what was coming out of the mouth of a politician. When Kennedy was assassinated I was as impacted as anyone and pulled back from my interest and willingness to pay attention to anything political. I suppose I was Left leaning even then, opposing the Vietnam War, aware that injustice existed, horrified at brutal police tactics, but not really interested in getting involved.
I will admit, with a certain degree of shame, that I didn’t vote for many years. I didn’t complain about who was in office either…..I just didn’t care. But as I got older and, hopefully, wiser, I began to focus in again. I suppose it was around the end of the Reagan era that my attention was drawn back. Since then, I’ve watched in amazement at what a convoluted, ego driven, free-for-all American politics really is.
The recent rise of the Conservative Right has both amused, and baffled me. I look at the current Republican field, especially with it’s bigger-than-life poll leader, and I’m beyond baffled……I’m actually a bit horrified.
But, while I don’t believe that Mr. Trump has a chance, I am completely gobsmacked that he has any traction at all. Who are these people that support him, what are they thinking, do they have no sense? Does it only take a reference to a few hot button issues to inspire loyalty? Even while failing to propose real solutions.
I would have hoped that since Kennedy we, as a nation, would have evolved…..it seems the opposite is true.

You are referring to the people who support Donald Trump’s outrageous narcissism. They may be the heart of the unthinking part of America, but we must remember that the media will exaggerate anything to get eyeballs. The media will seldom feature those who think rather than react because they’re not usually newsworthy. The smallest foible will get magnified for no other reason than the media needs to stay afloat financially. The media phrase, “If it bleeds, it leads” is name of the game.

American politics has always been rowdy, but these days it has become crazy. The dangerous nonsense being spouted by the Republican candidates caused my gag reflex to kick in. The result was this piece. Fingers crossed that sensible Americans will see this high-velocity Republican pandering for what it is…dangerous dancing for dollars.

Some people—what Art fears is “the heart of America’—like Trump’s crude bluntness little realizing that the world is complex, not a small gathering of Don Rickles fans. Like you, I believe that Trump will withdraw in a few months saying that he has made his point. His narcissistic ego has been massaged. If it weren’t for the mainline media’s attention, Trump would be counting his money and filing for bankruptcy.

Let’s put a competent, compassionate person in the Oval Office and move on leaving the clowns in their car.

AND….as the stock market adjusts to world affairs over the last couple of days (as it always does) Trump screams, “America is failing!…and only I can save it”. That’ll get even more reactionaries and the conservative fearful to jump on board the crazy train.

There’s one sucker born every minute and Trump is betting on those rubes. He’s getting lots of attention just now, but the election is still fifteen months away. Much can change in that time. Enthusiasm of the irrational folks in America—and the rest of the world has them, too—doesn’t mean Trump will be around next year. There’s plenty more irrationality waiting between now and then, Trump aside.

The nonsensical positions of the Republican candidates cry out for comment. They are all clowns who will unfortunately get the support of equally mentally-challenged people. The positions they spout are not just thoughtless, they are dangerous to democracy.

Art Ulene on August 25, 2015 at 01:55

Scott Walker outdid them all today….. saying that Obama should cancel his meeting with Xi JiPing next week because it’s China’s fault that our stock market went down today. He says that if HE were President, the invitation would be withdrawn. I’m serious. (You can’t make something like that up.)

By the way…. Michelle Bachman may actually have out-stupidded Walker. She said that Trump was absolutely right about the wall between the U.S. and Mexico…. and for proof, she pointed to the Great Wall of China. “You don’t see any undocumented Mexicans in China, do you”? she said. Seriously. She really said that.

I think I’m going to pour myself another glass of wine. Best to all……… Art

Walker and Bachmann, a matched set. As I said in reply to Dave’s comment, irrationality is running rampant in the Republican Party. Is it possible for a human to get stupider than Bachmann? And the rest of the Republican field is nearly as stupid. Let the Stupid Games continue!

Have another glass for me. The clowns have barely started.

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